Shades for Sunday Somewhere

Cult eyewear brand Sunday Somewhere has joined forces with an international blogger for its first collaboration.

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Published on 30 April 2014

by Hannah-Rose Yee

Rumi Neely, creative director of fashiontoast, is a free-spirited SoCal style guru who’s blog receives more than one million page views a month. Sunday Somewhere is the work of Dave Allison (of Collab eyewear fame), a Sydney-based eyewear brand whose high-gloss aesthetic is built around quality, modernity and an innate coolness. The pair have come together for Sunday Somewhere’s first ever collaboration.

After being introduced by Allison’s American PR agent, the partnership evolved organically. “We met in Paris during fashion week and had one intense design dinner meeting,” Neely says. “It was creepily easy.” Allison laughs, adding, “We had faith in each other ... I think we are both really proud of the finished product.”

The collection is built around two unisex styles inspired by Neely’s travels. The first, Tokyo, features a clean, graphic, oversized frame with contrast arms in black leather or polished-rose gold metal – a Sunday Somewhere trademark quirk. Paris, with its rounded frames and sleek, slim arms is the more feminine of the two styles, and Neely’s personal favourite. On-trend mirrored lenses and snakeskin-printed leather arms toughen the look up. “They are the next level of what I wish I could buy in stores,” Neely says, admitting that she designed with herself in mind.

The collaboration with Sunday Somewhere is not Neely’s first encounter with Australian brands. She names Ellery, Bec & Bridge and Lover as her favourite local labels. “I had lunch with Nic and Susien [Briand and Chong, co-creative directors of Lover],” she says. “They are so much fun and so down to earth. It lasted well into the afternoon, people got parking tickets!”

Neely’s love of the Australian fashion industry is clearly mutual. “I’ve worked with a lot of creative types before,” Allison tells us, “and Rumi is the most inspiring and easy to work with of them all.” When asked if she would collaborate with Sunday Somewhere again Neely exclaimed “definitely! I already have so many ideas.”